U.K. Nationals Join Protest Of Uganda Dictator

She scoffed at a May 17 letter by Gen. Museveni labeling media organizations, including Ugandaâ€™s Daily Monitor, the BBC and Al-Jazeera as â€œenemies" of Uganda and declaring that â€œThey will be treated as such.â€

[Global: U.K.]

British nationals joined with Ugandans in London's busy-trafficked Trafalgar Square to demand that the U.K. stop financing the dictator Yoweri Museveni, whose regime is reeling after a bout of street protests in the East African country reports Norman S. Miwambo.

Protestors continue to treat the Ugandan leader Gen. Museveni, with a carnival of protests including Friday, June 24,in a bid to expose his alleged “democratic accomplishments”. Passers-by stopped to find out more from the demonstrators who assembled outside Uganda's High Commission --the equivalent of an embassy.

One demonstrator's placard read, “ICC indict Museveni for Genocide," a reference to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, which regime opponents accuse of protecting the U.S. and U.K-backed general. Other signs read: "StopDictatorship in Uganda," "Free Uganda from Dictatorship," "Uganda Dictator Museveni Must Go," and "Ugandans demand freedom of speech, assembly and the press."

The Ugandan general, in office for 26 years, is widely accused of having stolen the February presidential vote. All the major opposition parties refuse to recognize the results and call him an "illegitimate president."

An organizer, Moses Luzinda, says regime opponents have secured permission to protest for at least two months. “We can only realize freedom if the West stops its monetary support," of Museveni adds Luzinda. "We are going to be consistent and relentless in our demands.”

“You have been here; you have seen the number of people taking photos and reading the messages on our placards," he says, of the robust media coverage. "This is the kind of achievement we are looking.”

The protestors in the United Kingdom have rallied under a grouping called Uganda United People Democratic Forces--organizers term it non-political mobilization organization. They want the West to force Gen. Museveni from office before the country descends into chaos.

Hannah Conpanna, a Canadian national who brought lunch for demonstrators says the says UN’s Article 19 of UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights, 1948, guarantees the right to freedom of opinion, expression, to impart information and ideas through any media.

She scoffed at a May 17 letter by Gen. Museveni labeling media organizations, including Uganda’s Daily Monitor, the BBC and Al-Jazeera as “enemies" of Uganda and declaring that “They will be treated as such.”

“We feel like any other human being. This is not an issue for Ugandans only, it’s our money that continues to support dictators who surpress their citizens,” said another demonstrator, Fantan, who only provided a first name.

“By joining protests like these, we send a message to our politicians that our taxes, if allocated for projects that help poor people should be used for that cause. But not to maintain individuals who want to consolidate their power at the expenses of the people.”